Roleplaying spar and combat damage

[Lizzie]

After reading some posts in RAT, I thought I'd open the topic here since it really is a RP subject, rather than a code subject. When I spar, I roleplay the damage done as bruises, sprains, and usually my armor saving me from anything other than muscle ache. Why? Because I don't want to spend the next 2 RL days in the barracks, recovering from serious injuries while everyone else is out doing whatever the clan does. It's a matter of playability, straight and simple, for me. It has nothing to do with the code, or believability, at all. Screw immersion. If an injury keeps me from playing, I might as well just log out, not play, and log back in two RL days later fully recovered from my 2-day virtual healing retreat.

If my character actually does break a bone, I'll just assume she's a Zalanthan-based human, not a human-based human, and Zalanthan-based humans heal faster than Earth-based humans do. So maybe I'll stay out of sparring and stick with "light duty" for a couple of RL days, the equivalent of 2 RL weeks. A splint, a few thodeliv joints, a few shots of whisky, and I should be good to go in less than a half-month.

Some people might enjoy playing combat-based characters who don't actually get to use their combat-based skills and background, due to receiving grievous wounds in the sparring ring or out in battle. And that's fine for them. However, some of us who occasionally play combat-based characters, do so because we want to use those combat-based skills and roleplay that combat-based role, and sitting out for any significant length of time just doesn't equal fun gaming.

Unfortunately, this creates a disparity. Two people who receive equally-horrible damage in sparring - one person heals within a RL day, the other is taking well over a RL week or maybe even has a "missing eye" scar added. Which one is correct? Which one should get criticized? My opinion: neither, UNLESS one of the two is making roleplay difficult for everyone else. If I heal from a grievous wound by immediately laying down to sleep with no emotes and no indication that I'm passing out, and 5 RL minutes later my HPS are back to full and I pretend I never got hurt in the first place...

If that happens every time I get hit badly - I'd say that'd be report-worthy.

If I take a couple RL days to heal, and I'm one of the people the crew needs for expeditions, and I keep holding up expeditions because my "healing process" is more important than the expeditions - I'd say that'd be report-worthy.

But there's plenty of space inbetween the two extremes, where you -can- switch out the priorities, while still including them both: playability, and immersion/believability.

[levinj]

I'm probably sitting on the light side of roleplaying injuries. That said, it really depends on how bad those injuries are. For one thing, I'm fanatically careful not to spar much below 2/3 of my hitpoints. When I see players consistently dropping to poor, or even terribly, my PC thinks about the fact that they're probably suffering serious injuries.

Lately, in my sparring endeavors, I've seen this roleplayed very nicely by my fellow thugs. A series of light hits that wear you down are probably bruises. But one of those incredibly deadly hits which ends the fight in one shot? That's gonna need looking at.

I'm not saying that's how it has to be, just how I've seen players wiser than myself roleplay it out. FWIW, Lizzie, I don't think we're in disagreement.

[Cale_Knight]

Lately, in my sparring endeavors, I've seen this roleplayed very nicely by my fellow thugs. A series of light hits that wear you down are probably bruises. But one of those incredibly deadly hits which ends the fight in one shot? That's gonna need looking at.

This is how I usually played it. If you take a "grievous wound to the neck" or whatever that drops you by 40 HP, then you've sustained a pretty bad injury even if you're only sparring. Anyone who's done any sort of martial arts training knows that even under controlled conditions it's still possible to get hurt pretty badly if somebody is unlucky or careless.

There are some circumstances that I think create a sort of "RP bubble" around a character, and that's mainly when you're dealing with subjective things like injuries. If Amos wants to RP that his 40-damage hit to the neck was a bad sprain that goes away in a week, that's cool. If Andy wants to RP that his equivalent wound is a cracked collarbone that's going to take much longer to heal, that's cool too. Amos and Andy (and their comrades) can accommodate both easily enough.

[QuillDipper]

I think both character and armor change how you take sparring injuries. A sixteen year old with an obsidian collar is going to get some mad neck wounds, as opposed to burly 30 year old who's neck is encased in obsidian and bone.

I roleplay sparring injuries based on the situation. If I take two "wounding you" shots to the head, that'll leave a scar. If I get on the ground and my arm is smashed repeatedly, I'll decide whether or not this is a broken bone depending on if I think it'll make good roleplay to be disabled for two-three weeks.

My way: The light wounds you take in sparring bounce off of armor, or are simply bruising since the dull blades/spears/axes, but as you get above that it starts to really dig in and leave scrapes/small cuts. Only grievous or horrendous are the equivalent of actual strikes. Anything that reels you is also a fairly jarring strike.

[CodeMaster]

Full contact training with ten pound "sparring" weapons most days of the week would lead to a crippling accumulation of chronic injuries, even if you NEVER take even a single life-threatening wound to the neck. (This is based on some modest RL experience.)

In real-life martial arts, drills, positional sparring, and practicing the same motion over and over again play a larger role than they do in Zalanthas. We are less prone to injury this way for obvious reasons. And not just immediate trauma but also subtler and perhaps more serious injuries related to inflammation and overuse.

The latter would be a safer, more effective way to train a fighting unit with fewer fewer losses.  My understanding from the help files is you can send in game logs of yourself practicing and ask for skill bumps.  But, this is labor intensive for the staff; who wants to reads six pages of some awful sweating dwarf swinging an axe by himself like star wars kid.  Sparring is a gambling minigame that's fun for us to play.

So I have to agree with Lizize. JUST BLEED and give us some mad ass grit, but we are already required to suspend our disbelief with the staff-sanctioned training schedules in place.

[ShaLeah]

Anything that reels you is also a fairly jarring strike.

Fairly?

reel2   [reel]  Show IPA
verb (used without object)
1. to sway or rock under a blow, shock, etc.: The boxer reeled and fell.
2. to waver or fall back: The troops reeled and then ran.
3. to sway about in standing or walking, as from dizziness, intoxication, etc.; stagger.
4. to turn round and round; whirl.
5. to have a sensation of whirling: His brain reeled.

I'd rank it above fairly.

[Lizzie]

That's why I think the code merely a guide - and that playabiity in this case should trump both code and believability. I mean, realistically, I can get reeled just by not eating in the morning. My blood sugar drops abruptly and I get dizzy and nauseated and have to either a) eat or b) lay down while the migraine sets in for the rest of the day.

I've been hit in the head with an acrylic lock-box when putting them away at work - the edge of the box hit the bridge of my nose at full force from a height. I was reeled - saw stars and everything. And I recovered within a few seconds and finished my shift with a bump on the nose, a few drops of blood, and a tiny scar that I still have.

I was emotionally reeled when my sister called me one night to tell me my grandmother had died while I was on the flight home from visiting her that afternoon. I made it to work the next day (albeit very weepy and they sent me home but it didn't prevent me from showing up).

I was punched in Junior High by a bully, and was reeled. I had a bruise on my chin, and was in homeroom class the next morning.

Reeling doesn't mean "OMG your bones are broken and you're bleeding horribly you need a medic or you'll die." In fact, no bones need to be broken, and no blood needs to be spilled, for a person to be reeled. Bones CAN be broken and blood CAN be spilled...but it isn't necessary, whether you're arguing the semantics, or talking about sparring roleplay.

Think of it this way: The fact that your character CAN recover within minutes via the code, means that the code gives you room to roleplay the injury however you feel makes sense in that moment. There are games that have actual body-part damage locations, from minor contusions to missing limbs. Shadows of Isildur was known for it. The staff of Armageddon have chosen not to go that route, so that tells me that they're leaving it up to us to interpret.

[boog]

I dunno.

I mean, if I only have so much time to RP and spar/skill up, my character might just pass it off as looking worse than it was to everyone around her/him. If I gotta go and s/he got scratched, maybe it exacerbated an old wound; fuck it, I gotta boogy. Excuses galore.

I don't want to over analyze anyone's actions. If your character is resilient and can bounce back from an injury sure - go ahead. If they're worn out and have accrued a ton of damage lately, sure - go ahead and play that, too, if you want them to sit in or out.

Playing in the Byn last time around, if I had to run upstairs and check on the kids or dose them with medicine, or take a pee, I'd just have my character rest if she suffered any during sparring. It just worked. But, hey, maybe your character's skin is tougher than mine, dried and cured beneath Krath. I'm not gonna look down on you for it, unless you're being Major Douchey Twink.

[MeTekillot]

em grunts

sleep

[slvrmoontiger]

Sometimes with sparring it DOES look worse than it is... I've had characters get hit with Solidly or Viciously that only do a few hp of damage.

[Lizzie]

Sometimes with sparring it DOES look worse than it is... I've had characters get hit with Solidly or Viciously that only do a few hp of damage.

That's when I'd roleplay the weapon making solid contact with something inflexible that I'm wearing. Maybe the chitin plate on my boot, or the most padded part of my cuirass, or the spot at the rim of my helmet where it meets the cap. And I'd RP staggering back from the blow, surprised - but otherwise not really hurt. More like the wind got knocked out of me for a few moments. And maybe a bruise, or a little lump rising from the general location of where the hit was.

Because sometimes it even FEELS worse than it really is.

[ShaLeah]

Sometimes with sparring it DOES look worse than it is... I've had characters get hit with Solidly or Viciously that only do a few hp of damage.

Because sometimes it even FEELS worse than it really is.

I'd agree with smt's wording, sometimes it looks worse to onlookers, meanwhile you're only down ten hit points. For me feeling is what warrants roleplayed response. I think it's bad form, REALLY bad form, to shrug off any drop in hit points where you don't regenerate by simply resting. If you have to go to sleep codedly to get your hit points up, you should be acting like you got fucked up in sparring.

[RogueGunslinger]

Let's stop trying to decide what other player should or shouldn't be doing. You, thankfully, don't get to make those decisions.

[Lukoyin]

If you have to go to sleep codedly to get your hit points up, you should be acting like you got fucked up in sparring.

This.

Just my 2 sids. In, or out of sparring, if you're too screwed up to "shake it off" (IE: Resting/natural regen) you probably should be playing out some sort of injury. However;

Let's stop trying to decide what other player should or shouldn't be doing.

This, too. End of the day, it's a game we all play to have fun. Each persons' idea of fun is different. Each person is going to view their PCs capabilities differently.

[ShaLeah]

If you have to go to sleep codedly to get your hit points up, you should be acting like you got fucked up in sparring.

This.

Just my 2 sids. In, or out of sparring, if you're too screwed up to "shake it off" (IE: Resting/natural regen) you probably should be playing out some sort of injury. However;

Why? Because the code says so. There are some injuries you can't play off.

Let's stop trying to decide what other player should or shouldn't be doing.

This, too. End of the day, it's a game we all play to have fun. Each persons' idea of fun is different. Each person is going to view their PCs capabilities differently.

Change on the Arm has been propelled by discussions such as these. The code is the guideline to which we have to stick to as characters because, hey, you can't get your hit points up sitting your dwarfy ass down you sure as hell aren't going to get anyone looking at your near-death ass saying 'Yo Amos! You took them hits like a mul!'.

The staff is the one who decides how players should play and there have been instances where a player was lucky to survive and is out the next IC day hunting like it was nothing and they've said 'Whoa there hero, you almost got dead'.

I haven't really seen that many people shrug off an injury that'd codedly devastating like it was nothing but I have seen it. Every time I've seen it I've thought as a player it's been bad form. Just my opinion. I'm not trying to tell them what they should be doing.

[slvrmoontiger]

I think it all comes down to situation based. I have never ever let a character of mine get so hurt during sparring that he would have been realistically out of commission for a long period of time and I make sure any characters sparring with mine don't get that badly injured as well. Its called training for a reason people you train so you get better not so you come close to dying.

Hunting on the other hand I've been close to dead many times with many different characters there are some situations you have no control over. In those cases I usually have my character stay out of hunting/sparring what have you and mostly become a tavern thug or stay in his/her apartment if he/she has one for a couple IG weeks.

[TheWanderer]

My reaction to 'vicious' and 'horrendous' strikes.

[slvrmoontiger]

*laughs* I was so waiting for someone to post that.

[Lizzie]

If you have to go to sleep codedly to get your hit points up, you should be acting like you got fucked up in sparring.

This.

Just my 2 sids. In, or out of sparring, if you're too screwed up to "shake it off" (IE: Resting/natural regen) you probably should be playing out some sort of injury. However;

Why? Because the code says so. There are some injuries you can't play off.

The code also says that I can recover 100% within 5 minutes by simply falling asleep. I don't rely on the code to dictate how well I recover. I use it as a guideline.  I also don't rely on the code to dictate how badly I'm injured. I use it as a guideline.

I'm saying - no one has to rely on the code either way. And no one should feel badly for NOT relying on it. No one should feel badly for relying on it either. And that includes the code that says you can sleep and recover fully within 5 minutes.

As long as it's not being abused either way (such as - intentionally putting off expeditions so your character can heal - which conveniently gets you out of being assassinated, for instance, or spam-bashing and spam-healing without even so much as a "emote passes out" on a regular basis)...then it really shouldn't be an issue.

It IS an issue, but I don't feel it should be. That's what prompted me to create this thread.

[ShaLeah]

The code is the guideline

I use it as a guideline.

Sounds like we agree, what we might disagree with is what we both consider bad form.  BTW, 5mnts RL is half an hour ZT, power nap ftw!

[Fujikoma]

Before choosing to RP out an injury, I like to consider what caused the injury. Vicious strike from a sparring weapon? Hmmm, what percentage are my HP at, ok, cut in half=dead obviously, but taking half my PC's hp doesn't mean they're cut in half, it means they've taken half the amount of damage it would take to kill a person, even with a "real weapon", meant for the purpose of killing. I like to consider attacks from real weapons, beasts in the wild, and arrow (SHEESH, hope it didn't hit you in the knee), or some kind of weird gick stuff to be of a much more serious sort of damage (despite the fact that both can kill you). If I took a minor blow from say, a HG, I might RP it out as something different than the smaller races just because, you got hit with a what by a WHAT?! Yeah, I take things like that into consideration. I also like to make my characters a little dumber or more forgetful over time if they take a high frequency of strikes to the head. If they have some kind of repeated emotional trauma, they may experience a sort of blunting of the effects as a sort of coping mechanism. Is this scientific? No, but I shouldn't be expected to spend eight to twelve years in college to RP a character realistically in a low-fantasy setting with beings much hardier and resilient to damage than their earth counterparts. Shoot, would you explain a scientific explanation for the whole magickal system? No, though certain concepts may be interesting to apply, I can't confess to have anything beyond a "I read an article in a magazine once" level of education on that.

I have to agree with the other players who insist it's about having fun and playability. I might have one character, despite his scores, who plays like some kind of unstoppable regenerating beast, meanwhile the next, with higher endurance, may suffer longer term damage. I like that I get to choose what fits in with the concept rather than having it chosen for me. I understand there are people "out to win" who will just shrug off things unrealistically, but I find this kind of playstyle (maybe once or twice from my own experience) seems to lend itself to certain self destructive tendencies that will trap the play to win player more often than not with their own ambition (also, staff might notice/be notified of this behavior and step in to make the necessary adjustments). In the end, I'm not really sure there really is a way to win, just a way to set goals and try to get them accomplished, which doesn't really lend itself well to taking unnecessary risks for minimal gain. But just an ignorant viewpoint from a newbie, blah.

[Jeax]

But just an ignorant viewpoint from a newbie, blah.

Fuji is ig'nant.

I will add to this, though, as I've actually fought with sparring weapons before IRL. They hurt like mad. You can most certainly get "reeled", or even break things. In later training, without sparring weapons, just with my own self, I broke things. Sparring is not necessarily a safe activity. Of course I did not do padded-up sparring like you find in Karate/TaeKwonDo, etc.  There was a big pad on the floor, at least.

So yeah, I think requiring some recovery time is reasonable. If you get hurt enough to have to get medical attention, take at least the rest of the IG day off from sparring.

Now, along the same lines, I once had a character (this was like 4 years ago, so can say, I assume) that upset the militia in the Gaj...and he was held by soldiers and one of them smashed his knee with a warhammer. I did not spar for quite a while after this. I think I gave it like a RL week, which would be somewhere around half a month IG I think, or 1/6 of a year, aka the equivalent of 2 months in real life. I know in real life if you rip someone's knee in half (the ligaments) it's two month recovery time for them to be able to do anything with the leg again. So realistically I probably would not have been sparring after half a month, but I did anyway, because I don't want to sit around forever.

[Harmless]

This thread = Totally ignorable.

Do it how you like. If how you're doing it is wrong you'll get a notification from staff.

Enjoy the game. It's Zalanthas. Not combat realism roleplay protocol simulator.

-harmless

[Lizzie]

This thread = Totally ignorable.

Do it how you like. If how you're doing it is wrong you'll get a notification from staff.

Enjoy the game. It's Zalanthas. Not combat realism roleplay protocol simulator.

-harmless

I guess it wasn't ignorable afterall, since you (and 10 other members of the forum) didn't ignore it.

[Patuk]

This thread = Totally ignorable.

Do it how you like. If how you're doing it is wrong you'll get a notification from staff.

Enjoy the game. It's Zalanthas. Not combat realism roleplay protocol simulator.

-harmless

I guess it wasn't ignorable afterall, since you (and 10 other members of the forum) didn't ignore it.

10 members of the gdb?!?! My god! It is a world-shaking issue indeed!

[Jingo]

[FantasyWriter]

I'm usually willing to roll with it however the injured party chooses to play the injury. It is, after all, their character's story that they are writing.
That is unless they are RPing differently through Hemotes then their showy emotes are showy-ing. 

[PriestlySiren]

I... was going to post something, but I realized it didn't happen six months ago. Let's just say that I let the code dictate how my character feels. Maybe your head-wound from a club at viciously gives you a concussion. My character's a tough bitch. She'll walk it off after becoming conscious again.

[Asche]

Generally speaking, I like there to be a few emotes in my sparring. I don't have a set of rules though. Did most of the damage I took go to my arm? I grab it, wincing. Did I take about 20 hp from a slash to my head? I'm clutching my face, wiping blood from my eye where you cut my forehead. Did you get me below 50%? I'm slumping down for the rest of the day, taking it easy. I WILL be up the next day, however. I'm a goddamned Zalanthan. Not some pussy ass earthling. I walk out into the desert heat with a loin cloth and kill raptors with bone swords MADE OF RAPTOR. Don't tell me I can't handle a fight specifically designed to not kill me.

Sparring factions have turned me off anyways. I don't need another account note saying I'm not keeping to the sparring schedule because its somehow inconceivable that an alcoholic might skip work to sit in a tavern, so I must be a twink for not OOCly standing in front of a sparring dummy for hours waiting for someone to log on.

emote monotonously swings at the sparring dummy with a practiced swing for the thousandth time today, sprinkling slightly different words to describe the same thing and keep staff happy my RP is at its peak with no one around to interact with.

[MeTekillot]

[RogueGunslinger]

Something tells me that's a very "out of context" reference to your account note, considering staff doesn't give a shit if your character is skipping duties for ic reasons.

[TheWanderer]

i spar naked to sprinkle some variation into ma rotation

[FantasyWriter]

For time you are suppose to be training but there is no one around and you OOCly don't feel like soloing its...

change ldesc is getting his ass kicked by a sand-filled sparring dummy. 

[IntuitiveApathy]

For time you are suppose to be training but there is no one around and you OOCly don't feel like soloing its...

change ldesc is getting his ass kicked by a sand-filled sparring dummy. 

Code Select Expand


<102/102|117/123|100/100||neutral|standing|riding: none|walking|unarmed>A Small Training Hall [S]
   This small, bare stone hall has thick straw pads on the walls, and also
on part of the floor, to provide some small degree of cushioning from the
violent activity normally seen here. Around the hall, a few pairs of rough-
looking mercenaries engage in close-combat drills or sparring. The smell of
stale sweat hangs heavily in the air. A large archway opens up to a larger
hall to the south.

<102/102|117/123|100/100||neutral|standing|riding: none|walking|unarmed>Settling down beside a circle, you sit down.

<102/102|117/123|100/100||neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>Your new ldesc is:
The unkempt, ivory-tressed teen sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
A horn blast sounds from somewhere to the southeast.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male has arrived from the south.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male looks down at you.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male says, in sirihish:
     "Ello there.."

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male gets his bloodied short bone sparring spear from his dusty bone-studded backpack.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male puts his bloodied short bone sparring spear into his dusty bone-studded backpack.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male puts his obsidian dagger into his dusty bone-studded backpack.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male puts his bone dagger into his dusty bone-studded backpack.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male wears his set of braided leather cords in his hair.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male gets his obsidian dagger from his dusty bone-studded backpack.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male brandishes his obsidian dagger.

<102/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your body.

<95/102|117/123|92/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<95/102|117/123|92/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
You lunge at the tall, blue-eyed human male, but your blow is deftly deflected by a dusty simple sandcloth shirt.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<95/102|117/123|92/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
You hit the tall, blue-eyed human male, barely grazing his body.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<95/102|117/123|92/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your leg.

<88/102|117/123|92/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male lightly stabs your leg.

<83/102|117/123|96/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your leg, nicking you.

<79/102|117/123|96/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your waist.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<71/102|117/123|88/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male lightly stabs your foot.

<65/102|117/123|88/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stops attacking you.

<65/102|117/123|88/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
You hit the tall, blue-eyed human male, barely grazing his arm.

<65/102|117/123|92/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
Your blow bounces off the tall, blue-eyed human male's tough skin.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<65/102|117/123|96/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your arm, nicking you.

<61/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male lightly stabs your head.

<55/102|117/123|89/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<55/102|117/123|97/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<55/102|117/123|97/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your leg, nicking you.

<51/102|117/123|97/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
You hit the tall, blue-eyed human male, barely grazing his arm.
You hit the tall, blue-eyed human male, barely grazing his hand.

<51/102|117/123|97/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<51/102|117/123|100/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your head, wounding you.
You reel from the blow.

<33/102|117/123|67/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your body, nicking you.

<29/102|117/123|67/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
Your blow bounces off the tall, blue-eyed human male's tough skin.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<29/102|117/123|71/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.

<29/102|117/123|75/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
You hit the tall, blue-eyed human male, barely grazing his body.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<29/102|117/123|75/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male lightly stabs your leg.
Your attack on the tall, blue-eyed human male is absorbed by a dusty simple sandcloth shirt.
You lunge at the tall, blue-eyed human male, but your blow is deftly deflected by a dusty simple sandcloth shirt.

<24/102|117/123|79/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<24/102|117/123|79/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.

<24/102|117/123|83/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
Your attack on the tall, blue-eyed human male is absorbed by a dusty pair of light-brown pants.
You hit the tall, blue-eyed human male, barely grazing his foot.

<24/102|117/123|87/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<24/102|117/123|91/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs you very hard on your wrist.

<12/102|117/123|91/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your hand, nicking you.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
You hit the tall, blue-eyed human male, barely grazing his body.

<9/102|117/123|91/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
You viciously leap toward the tall, blue-eyed human male, but a dusty pair of light-brown pants gets in the way.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<9/102|117/123|91/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.
You viciously leap toward the tall, blue-eyed human male, but a dusty simple sandcloth shirt gets in the way.

<9/102|117/123|91/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
Your attack on the tall, blue-eyed human male is absorbed by a dusty simple sandcloth shirt.
The tall, blue-eyed human male swiftly dodges your hit.

<9/102|117/123|91/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs your body.

<2/102|117/123|83/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs at you, but you dodge out of the way.

<2/102|117/123|87/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|sitting|riding: none|walking|unarmed>
The tall, blue-eyed human male stabs you very hard on your wrist.

<-10/102|117/123|91/100|ldesc : sits here, cross-legged beside a ring.|neutral|mortally wounded|riding: none|walking|unarmed>


[Brytta Léofa]

There's a reason the Byn training hall has always creepéd me out.

[ShaLeah]

There's a reason the Byn training hall has always creepéd me out.

I got dead in there at least once that I can remember. Cold blooded murder!

* ShaLeah swoons.

[Fujikoma]

There's a reason the Byn training hall has always creepéd me out.

I got dead in there at least once that I can remember. Cold blooded murder!

* ShaLeah swoons.

Someone intentionally tried to kill a PC of mine in there once. Their mistake was not being efficient enough about it. My PC got away and that cost the other PC their head. Never underestimate a resourceful coward.

The other time it wasn't so much "tried" as "did", in front of a large crowd. Good times.

[slvrmoontiger]

And yet, a good number of people run around the GDB saying... "Oh the Byn is the perfect spot for new players." Yeah so you can kill the new players and they get disappointed and never come back.

[FreeRangeVestric]

You can die in any combat scenario, anywhere, and in any clan. Sparring deaths aren't exclusive to the Byn, even if they're (probably) most common there because of the fact that it has a higher concentration of new players.

It is a great place for new players, and old ones too!

[RogueGunslinger]

What Vestric said. The Byn is the perfect spot for noobs because it's got guaranteed interaction at almost any playtime. They also have a high chance of being around other noobs, and learning from their mistakes.

[Narf]

And yet, a good number of people run around the GDB saying... "Oh the Byn is the perfect spot for new players." Yeah so you can kill the new players and they get disappointed and never come back.

I've had two characters in the Byn, and they both did more than a year and we had no sparring deaths during either. I can't imagine they're terrible frequent.

And the other sorts of death were usually pretty exciting.

[Brytta Léofa]

Also, IntuitiveApathy's log is pretty likely noob-on-noob violence. Bad newbies are good newbies' natural predator.

[TheWanderer]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[slvrmoontiger]

Just saying never been in the Byn, never wanted to be in the Byn, never will be in the Byn. I've done well starting as a noob and I continue to do well as an experienced player. The Byn isn't the end all be all of Armageddon.

[manonfire]

My Byn sparring-death experience came in 2002.

dem dorfs, man.

[RogueGunslinger]

Just saying never been in the Byn.... The Byn isn't the end all be all of Armageddon.

Well you wouldn't really know, now would you?

[whitt]

Just saying never been in the Byn, never wanted to be in the Byn, never will be in the Byn. I've done well starting as a noob and I continue to do well as an experienced player. The Byn isn't the end all be all of Armageddon.

Well, at least you don't seem to have any preconceived notions about it.

[Desertman]

Beat me to it.

Guy admits he has zero knowledge about what he is saying as he says it.

Such fail. Much lulz.

[ShaLeah]

I think EVERYONE should do a Byn stint.

[slvrmoontiger]

Well perhaps everyone should to a stint with one of the GMH, and one of the noble houses in each of the cities.

[levinj]

I wouldn't disagree with either of you.

Key to enjoying all the facets of a game is seeing it from the various angles.

[Fujikoma]

Byn stints, Merchant Houses, hardly a year played. I'll vouch for the Byn. Merchant houses are fun, too, but a different flavor. Haven't tried a noble house, sorry guys, too, um, restrictive for me (also, see reason for not trying militia). I like playing an independent a lot too. Would like to try a militia role, but my humans don't tend to live very long.

In the end, schedules, OMG! I love this stuff, but if I could just opt-out be sort of an underpaid, freelance tag-a-long and show up for training sessions when I wanted to after a certain time frame, sacrificing the food, shelter and storage bit, yeah, I'd go for that.

The grizzled, bearded woman sends you a telepathic message:
        "Looks like we're going to be spider food again, you want to make some coin?"

You send the grizzled, bearded woman a telepathic message:
        "Always, Sergeant, let me finish chopping up this hooker first."

[boog]

Underpaid freelancers are partisans in Tuluk.

And sure. I've made it my goal to try out as many clans as I can. I'm pretty close to having tried most of them, even in small capacities. I think to assume the worst out of anything is short sighted and will just ruin your own gameplay in the end.

[Cale_Knight]

The best clan for a newbie is whatever clan currently has that special mix of patient leaders and productive underlings who can provide the necessary structure and presence to teach said newbie how to play the game.

Sometimes that's the Byn, sometimes it's going to be a different clan. But you can be sure that the newbies will find their way to wherever they need to be, and you can do your part by keeping your own tabs on which clan that is, and nudge said newbies in that direction when you can.

What's good for the newbies is good for Arm.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Is that why I keep getting newbs?

That's nice of you guys.

Keep it up.

[IntuitiveApathy]

Over the years, my guess is that I've played approximately 100 days of playtime in the Byn across several characters.

The log I posted is an outlier in the Byn experience - an exceptional case where a new player (who I had just been helping learn some syntax not an hour before) perhaps decided he was bored.  There were no other players around at that off-peak time we were on, and I was unfortunately AFK, so it transpired as it did.  I understand that he was chastised by the imms, but my request for ressurection was denied nevertheless.  In all my years of playing, this was the first and only time something like this had happened to me, and I've not heard of something like it happening to anyone else.

Somewhat more common are "sparring accidents" such as MOF alluded to - these are incidents where one party is unprepared, or one party is otherwise so grossly overpowered, and/or does not have the mercy flag on, where that even though it's unintentional, someone dies.   As pointed out, these can happen in any clan, though the Byn perhaps being one of the largest clans at any given time, with likely the most sparring happening as a result day-to-day, may see these happen perhaps somewhat more frequently than elsewhere.

And as Fujikoma pointed out, there are some rarer intentional attempted murderizing situations that occur, but those are really rare from what I've seen too.  Hopefully there is some good rp going down surrounding these though, and if so, I'd say that'd a bonus, not a detriment!

Still, even in all my time in the Byn, I can count the total incidents of all types of death or even attempted death from the above occurring on two hands.  That's pretty rare.

If you are considering the Byn and you are a new player (or old, for that matter), please don't let my log deter you.  I only posted it because I thought it'd be funny as a reply (though it wasn't very funny to me at the time!).  The Byn to me is a defining experience for this game - within, you'll find a very well-defined and active subculture, the game's breath of character/racial/social interaction all while cast in a see-the-world through a gritty, commoner-low lens, and it's sometimes breathtakingly exciting, sometimes routine and mundanely not-so-exciting bokeh background which is quintessential Armageddon.  Surely, it's not everyone's cup of tea.  Some people don't like rigid schedules.  Some don't like pseudo-military hierarchy.  But to miss out on it and refuse to play even once in it - in my opinion, you're missing out on an intergral part of the game.

And to keep this somewhat relevant to the original thread - it's a great place to learn sparring RP!

[X-D]

For the record...mercy is NOT foolproof. 

[ShaLeah]

Well perhaps everyone should to a stint with one of the GMH, and one of the noble houses in each of the cities.

They should. Each GMH, the rinth, RS, Luirs, the noble houses when ready. 

Makes for a better player.

[Eyeball]

Hit point regeneration could proceed differently.

The first few hitpoints above "mortally wounded" return very slowly.

The next few a little faster.

The next ten somewhat faster.

And so on. The top third would regenerate as quickly as they do now, sleep not being necessary.

This has the side benefit of making good physicans (and water mages) more valuable.

[RogueGunslinger]

Hit point regeneration could proceed differently.

The first few hitpoints above "mortally wounded" return very slowly.

The next few a little faster.

The next ten somewhat faster.

And so on. The top third would regenerate as quickly as they do now, sleep not being necessary.

This has the side benefit of making good physicans (and water mages) more valuable.

I really like this idea. It feels realistic. The worse the injury the longer it takes to heal, the more injuries you have, the longer it takes to heal. So yeah, this sounds like a great idea to me.

[Zoan]

My favorite clans:

* AraSeik
* AoD
* House Oash
* The Guild (does that count?)
* Akai Sjir

[Zerero]

Makes me laugh my ass off thinking about a noob hunting another noob. Yes, I think any guild with a good leader and a somewhat active player base is great for newbies. As to role playing sparring injuries, my character is most likely an adult that has spent many years fighting, be it other humans or the treacherous beasts of the sands. They can take being beat bloody or onto their ass by padded wooden weaponry.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

I'm basically in the "code is a guideline" boat.

More than anything, I base my RP of any injuries around circumstances. If I was dropped to 60/100 health by a series of  2-6 hp each grazes, I'm going to shrug it off as some bruises - if that. If was dropped to 60/100 hp in one or two shots, I might have a concussion, or a pretty serious gash. Similarly, if a human whacks me for 30 damage on a single hit, I'm going to treat it differently then a half-giant hitting me for 30 damage.

At the end of the day, I guess I really don't put much work into RPing out sparring damage. It's cool for exceptional injuries, but if you were to do it consistently for a decently long lived character in a sparring clan, it would get old really fast. I tend to reserve the effort for "real" injuries, which I will almost always RP out, and often immortalize in scars.

[Delirium]

Jack's opinion is wise.

Also, his avatar makes me mentally go, "BANZAI!"

... I still miss that echo.

[Chettaman]

Is it bad that I imagine any sort of real outcome of fighting to be based on what's emoted?

Scenario:  badass wielding a mishandled battle axe
the badass chips you viciously on your neck.
The badass chips you very hard on the waist.
You slash the badass hard on his head.
through a Whirl around, the badass shoves the handle of his axe directly into your gut then elbows your nose. He lowers his head so that his helmet takes the brunt of your sudden recovery.

The badass chops you on the arm.
The badass chops you on the arm.
The badass' swing seems to only reach out before pulling at the back of your ankle. While you're still off balance, the badass shoves the head of his axe into your abdomen!

Of course... People rarely emote during battle. Against me. Be it sparring or to the death. Which is why I DO emote.
xD I get to determine what actually happened in the battle. Power play, you say? Then emote against me, dammit. I play for the story!

While I'm here in this sparring thread, I want to promote more sparring with actual weapons. Just emote not actually getting hit, but going through the training motions or whatever. Or heck. Go ahead and actually hit each other. Just do it more often. It's not like you don't go out and get clawed the eff up by critters with real claws anyway...

More edit*
Um.  To summarize: I would emote "appropriately" (If time permitted). If I was clearly mismatched, I would emote so. If the battle were back and forth, I would emote so. As I saw it anyway.